Episode 474 – We Can’t Handle All This Majesty!

These Commander 2017 cards are SO MAJESTIC! Seriously. Mike forgot how to speak. Dirk forgot how to read. Chewie almost choked to death. And they were SO MAJESTIC that Brian wasn’t even here. Look at all that majesty!

But because we got so caught up in the multicolored cards (mostly the legends), we opted to leave the monocolored cards until next week so Brian can join in on the fun.

5 Comments

I think that Mathas’ bounty counters only work when he’s on the field. It’s the same way with Gwafa Hazid in Conflux. The only one I know of that continues to have an affect with unique counters when it’s not on the board is the Fireheart out of OG Zendikar.

Oh no it works when he’s not on the field, because it says ‘For as long as that creature has a bounty counter on it, it has [ability]”. That means that so long as he was there to put the bounty counter on the creature, the rest of it is just there as if it was written on the card.

If he said something like “Put a bounty counter on target creature. If a creature with a bounty counter on it dies, [ability]” THEN it wouldn’t work unless he was on the battlefield. And since that’s how most of these guys are written, it’s an understandable mistake to make. But that’s why Mathas is so awesome!

The reason Gwafa Hazid works that way is because the counter-giving effect and the effect that defines what the counters do are two separate abilities, with the second one being a static ability that will only apply while Gwafa is on the battlefield. However, Mathas’ ability (like Obsidian Fireheart) creates the effect as part of the resolution of a triggered ability. An effect like that will last as long as whatever duration is given in the original ability, and if there’s no specified duration then that means it lasts indefinitely.